


Whispers

by chessurK



Series: Marina Kersey: Daughter of Poseidon [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/F, Post Heroes of Olympus, apollo is just a god now :), not including trials of apollo cause I haven't read it yet, probably into season 4, season 3 of the vampire diaries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:00:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25554706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chessurK/pseuds/chessurK
Summary: At age eight, Marina's mother died. At age eight, Marina found out she wasn't entirely human. And at age eight, Marina Kersey went missing. The Mystic Falls Police Department wasn't sure if she ran away, got kidnapped, lost in the woods, or killed by a vampire. No matter the reason, in the eyes of Mystic Falls, Marina Kersey was gone.In the eyes of the Gods, however, Marina Kersey was very much alive. In fact, she was thriving. Camp Half Blood have given her a place to grieve, to grow, and to become stronger than she ever imagined. It even gave her a new family in the form of a younger half-brother named Percy.Of course, it wasn't always good times at Camp Half-Blood. With two wars in the span of two years, and the loss of many friends, Marina was tired. She was tired of being a half-blood and just wanted her life to go back to normal. She hoped she would be able to find the normalcy she craved back in Mystic Falls.She was sorely mistaken.
Relationships: Bonnie Bennett/Jeremy Gilbert, Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson, Caroline Forbes/Tyler Lockwood, Elena Gilbert/Damon Salvatore, Elena Gilbert/Stefan Salvatore, Rebekah Mikaelson/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Marina Kersey: Daughter of Poseidon [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1851805
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	1. Dead Girl Walking

**Marina could feel the questioning eyes of her peers.** They had immediately noticed her when she wandered into Mystic Falls High School. To them she was new and unfamiliar. 

On the outside, she tried to look as confident as possible. Like she could take on the world without breaking a single nail. Which she had. And she didn't even break a nail, just her leg. They didn't know that, though. They just knew the facade.

On the inside, Marina was stressed, tired, and immediately regretting her decision to start high school her senior year.

When she had voiced her idea about not staying at Camp Half Blood during the school year, Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Blofis immediately offered to take her in and Mr. Blofis went as far to try and get her a spot at Goode High School. They had told her, "You're Percy's family, which makes you our family."

Their offers and words had brought tears to her eyes, but she knew she couldn't accept them. It wouldn't feel right to her. She felt like she would be taking advantage of them. They already had to deal with Percy and she didn't want to intrude on their family life and their small Manhattan apartment.

Instead, she decided she wanted to go back to her roots. She had barely remembered the town or the people there; she'd only been eight years old when a satyr named Aspen had taken her away to Camp Half Blood. All her memories of the town, her friends, and her mother came from pictures she managed to take with her. Which wasn't much. Despite that, she knew she wanted to go back, maybe learn about her mother, and possibly reconnect with childhood friends. 

She had been in Mystic Falls for a week before the first day of school and it had gone well. Granted, during that time she rarely left the apartment Ms. Jackson helped her find. Marina had only left the apartment twice after Mrs. Jackson and Percy left Marina to her own devices after helping her move in. The first was to go grocery shopping with the money Chiron had given her, and the other was to visit her mother's grave.

It was a rather sad moment seeing as Marina barely remembered her.

But now, as she tried her best to build up a facade of confidence and indifference, her mother wasn't on her mind. It was on how she should have taken up Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Blofis' offer, how she should have just stayed at camp no matter how much it hurt without _him_ there, and how she was having way too much of a hard time finding her second period.

First period had been easy enough to find thanks to the secretary's directions. But now Marina was lost in a sea of unfamiliar people and identical beige lockers.

"The labyrinth was easier to navigate than this shit," she mumbled to herself, completely unaware of the blonde vampire who was definitely not eavesdropping. Marina did spot her, though, causing her to abruptly look away and pretend to talk to her boyfriend. Marina didn't think anything of it, considering that in the eyes of Mystic Falls, she had just come back from the dead.

She ignored the returned stares of the girl and everyone else as she anxiously waded through the crowded hallways. She glanced up at every door number hoping it would be the one that led to AP US History. Yet, every door led to yet another disappointment.

A question for directions was on the tip of her tongue when she was roughly shoulder checked by some guy.

"Watch where you're going," he hissed at her but she wasn't listening. She was too distracted by the chill that went up her spine when he hit her. A chill she had only felt once before.

 _Vampire_.

 _Fuck there are vampires here_.

Of course there were vampires. It was Mystic Falls. Birth place of the vampire species. She didn't know that, though. Despite being a witch- and a fairly powerful one at that- she didn't know much about vampires. She remembered them getting briefly mentioned when some other campers gave her the lay down of some different Greek monsters. Mostly just the difference between vampires and _empousai_ and werewolves and _lycanthropes_.

Vampires and werewolves weren't Greek, so they weren't Camp Half-Blood's problem. Which meant they weren't hers.

Now, it seemed, they were going to be and she was practically clueless.

Everything she did know about them came from the only vampire she ever knew, and even she didn't know a lot. Now Kaya was dead and Marina was on her own.

She couldn't help but watch the vampire guy saunter down the hall as the bell rang and enter a random classroom. She also couldn't help but to follow him. Extremely curious and slightly afraid.

The vampire she knew was kind. She liked her. Could have even loved her if they were given enough time. But she was told some stories about the other vampires her friend encountered. Ones who weren't so friendly: to humans, other vampires, _witches_.

As she walked towards the classroom Mr. Vampire entered, she worried about the people inside and wondered if they were going to be okay. How long had the vampire been there? Had he been feeding on the students or the teachers? Was he good like Kaya or bad like the vampires she had heard about?

She would never know if she didn't just enter the classroom instead of standing there and blocking the doorway, lost in her racing thoughts. 

"Excuse me," an accented voice spoke up behind her, "You're making me late."

Marina hadn't even heard the bell ring. She was too busy looking at the mysterious vampire who was returning her stares.

"Sorry." Marina looked behind her, spotting a bitchy looking blonde who with an annoyed look on her face. "I'll just," she motioned to the doorway, "go in."

"You do that."

Tyche happened to be on Marina's side for just a moment as she walked through the class door as the teacher began his lesson. "Let's, uh, turn our brains back on, starting with this countries original founders: the Native Americans." 

_Thank the gods, it's the right class._

Marina and the girl searched for their seats. The blonde taking one near the front of the room as she said, "What about the Vikings?"

"There's no evidence that Viking explorers actually settled in the United States," the teacher, Mr. Saltzman according to Marina's schedule, countered as she searched for a seat.

The moment with Tyche on her side was over; that was evident by the only open seat being right behind Mr. Vampire. She placed her bag on the ground beside her chair, staring intently at her desk. Without looking up, she could feel his eyes on her. 

Mr. Saltzman looked between the two new girls, "I don't recognize either of you. Who are you?"

"My name's Rebekah," the blonde smirked at the teacher. Marina noticed the odd, slightly concerned looks some students in front of her were giving each other at her name. "I'm new. And history is my favorite subject."

He nodded slightly, looking slightly concerned like the students by Marina before he looked up at her. A silent _What about you?_ made Marina speak up. "I'm Marina. Also new. Not as big a fan of history, especially US." She realized that may have come off as insulting to the history buff, so she added with a grimace, "Sorry." 

With the interruption and introductions out of the way, Mr. Saltzman continued with his class and Marina immediately tuned him out. She felt bad for not paying attention to the lesson but she was too busy focusing and worrying over the fact that there was a vampire sitting right in front of her. Staring at her.

And he wasn't the only one. 

* * *

The second she had approached Marina, Rebekah could feel the power coming off her. She was curious. In her millennia on Earth, she had never encountered anyone who radiated power like Marina did. 

It was clear the humans in the room couldn't feel it. Many of them were whispering among themselves and glancing over at Marina, but they weren't unsettled by the power. They were curious about her. Not in the way Rebekah was, but in the way Mystic Falls was.

Little did Rebekah know, Marina was dead. Or at least she was supposed to be. In the eyes of Mystic Falls, Marina Kersey had been dead since 1999. By the end of first period, rumors of Marina's return had started to spread. Not everyone believed it of course. But now there was a new girl no one recognized named Marina.

But to the humans, despite being a mystery, she wasn't a threat.

To the supernaturals, however, she definitely felt like she was. 

The hairs on the back of Tyler's neck were raised and his shoulders were tense as he felt the power surround him. He was still new to vampirism and now he was being suffocated in power; power from a source he couldn't identify. 

Caroline was in a similar position. She had felt Marina's power earlier, and had been spying and eavesdropping on Marina in a failed attempt to figure out what she was.

Stefan was more in Rebekah's boat than Caroline and Tyler's. He couldn't help but tense slightly, but he was more curious than scared like the newborns. That most likely had more to do with his lack of humanity than any bravado he normally possessed. 

Both Stefan and Rebekah were uncaring of their blatant staring. Caroline was trying and failing to be discreet and Tyler was just confused as to what he was feeling. 

Marina could feel all of their stares and she didn't like it one bit. She knew to expect curious looks and questions. She had preparing herself for that the entire week before school started. But these looks were different. 

They weren't the looks of curious and baffled high schoolers. 

They were analyzing. 

They were assessing. 

They were trying to determine how much of a threat she was. 

They were the looks she normally got from monsters.

Even if she only touched Stefan, she could tell who the other vampires in the rooms were based solely off their reaction to her. She had been hoping Stefan was the only vampire in the school, in all of Mystic Falls if she was lucky.

But she wasn't. Now there were four. And her break from Camp Half-Blood and monsters didn't seem like it was going to be much a break anymore.

* * *

By the time lunch rolled around, the entire school knew Marina was back and there were about a thousand different rumors started about what happened to her. She was lucky she was able to avoid the questions and ignore the stares. 

Throughout her years at camp, daughters of Aphrodite like Silena and Piper had given her a lot of advice on how to hold herself in the face of adversaries. There was a particular piece of advice Silena had given her when they dated: if she didn't want to be bothered all she had to do was hold her head up high and think murder as she walked. 

Marina had used the method throughout the first half of her day to keep the few brave soles from blatantly asking her what happened to her mom and her. It worked on everyone. Well, almost everyone. 

The only people who completely ignored her clear want to be unbothered were Rebekah and Stefan. Marina had been peacefully eating her lunch when Stefan invited himself over and unceremoniously dropped his tray on her table.

"So what are you, exactly? Hmm?" He wasn't exactly subtle. "At first I thought you were a witch," which she was, "but I've never met a witch who just oozes power like you do."

Along with subtlety, it was clear to Marina that Stefan lacked tact and discretion based on how loud and nonchalant he was with his interrogation.

"Di Immortales," Marina cursed, subtly checking to make sure no one heard what Stefan was saying, "Do you want to the entire school to know not everyone is entirely human?"

"So you are something." Stefan had a look on his face like he won. Like he didn't already know. Like Marina was trying to keep it a secret from him. 

She knew she was caught the moment she saw the look on Stefan's face in history. 

"So are you, Mr. Vampire. And so is Rebekah, and Caroline, and Tyler." Throughout Mr. Saltzman's class and the school day Marina had been paying close attention to the vampires of Mystic Falls High School. She learned most of their names from Mr. Saltzman calling on them. The ones she didn't know by the end of history, she asked her peers about. And they were happy to gossip about Queen Caroline, her orphan friend Elena, the mysterious, hunky Salvatore boy, and the Mayor's son. 

"You know, I've heard a lot about you Mr. Salvatore," Marina looked over at the emotionless man. 

"Is that so?" He couldn't help but be a little curious.

"Yeah. Just rumors, whispers, I doubt much of it's true," she replied honestly. She had heard about his girlfriend, who happened to Caroline's friend Elena, and she had heard about how good he was at football before the season got abruptly cancelled. Those things were minor and probably true. What intrigued her most was his disappearing act over the summer. That and the few words spoken about his older brother who was seemingly at every school event. 

"Where did you end up this summer?" 

Stefan tensed for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment before letting out a light chuckle as he stabbed at his salad. "You're one to talk."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I've heard whispers too," he admitted. There was a smirk on his face. It wasn't necessarily evil, but it didn't make Marina feel good either. "Heard about little Marina Kersey who died eleven years ago. Yet," he pointed at her with his plastic fork, "here you are." 

Her fist clenched on the table and Stefan noticed it with glee. "You know Mystic Falls," she tried to brush off her irritation, but Stefan could still see it on her face. "Nothing ever happened here so the moment anything does they blow it out of proportion. After my mom died, my dad came and took me with him. We just didn't tell anybody."

"And how did your mother die?"

"How did you?" She countered. None of this was any of Stefan's business, but she figured maybe if she told one person what happened, it would eventually spread around the school and she could stop hearing kids calling her Ghost Girl behind her back.

He could ask all the questions he wanted about her but by asking about her mom he had crossed the line. Would she have gotten so irritated and defensive over the question if she had known how her mom died? Maybe not. But it doesn't matter. Because she didn't know. In her eight year old eyes, her mother had just dropped dead. 

A strange man had been in their home, but it was proven that he wasn't the one that killed her. At least not directly. There were no marks on her body. No wounds. Her body simply shut down. 

But Marina knew in her heart of hearts that Joanna Kersey didn't just _die_. People don't do that. Even if she was a witch, that's not normal. She knew that the strange man with the strange eyes had something to do with her mom's death. 

"My bad," Stefan mocked, raising his hands in surrender, "Touchy subject?" 

She grimaced at him before looking down at her tray, poking at her disgusting school food. She felt weird not offering some at the bonfire at Camp. 

"You know," she started, still playing with her food, "You never answered my question? Where you ended up this summer." After a brief pause, she added with a sarcastic voice, "Mystic Falls _needs_ to know!"

"You never answered mine." 

_You're still avoiding the question, dickwad. Also, that is not correct._

"Yes I did," Marina said, an incredulous look on her face. "I told you my dad picked me up. Caroline's eavesdropping, she heard it."

Both Marina and Stefan looked over to where Caroline was sitting with Elena and another girl Marina hadn't met yet. They both waved at her. She looked embarrassed at being caught and sheepishly returned the wave before looking away.

"That's not the question I'm talking about." Stefan turned his attention back to Marina. "What are you?" He repeated the first question he asked when he invaded her table. 

"You got it right the first time," Marina responded, seemingly annoyed. "Witch." She waved sarcastically, "Hi." _They don't need to know about anything other than that_. 

Unfortunately for her, Stefan didn't look like her fully believed her. "Weird. I've never met a witch with power that fills the whole room."

"Well that's not my fault, is it?" 

"Huh," it was a short, breathy laugh but a laugh nonetheless. "Sure." Stefan stood up, looking at his tray for a moment before pushing it toward her, "Enjoy your lunch, witchy." 

_Gods, he's annoying._

Marina smiled sarcastically before raising her plastic fork in thanks. "Bye, bye."

Once he left her table, she looked back over to Caroline's table to see Caroline and Elena watching Stefan leave the cafeteria. The third girl was looking at Marina in a trance. Her thousand yard stare made her uncomfortable. She felt like that girl was looking right through her. Seeing everything about her.

Marina made a face at the mysterious girl before waving slightly. The girl, who she would later learn is named Bonnie, was knocked out of her trance and returned the wave before focusing back on Elena and Caroline.

She couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief now that she wasn't being watched or bothered.

That relief only lasted until the end of lunch when she was cornered by Rebekah as she was leaving the cafeteria. 

"What is with vampires and not leaving me alone," she muttered.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not like Stefan." Marina couldn't tell if the smile on Rebekah's face was real or not. "I'm not going to ask you any invasive questions like that. I'm not a monster."

Marina sighed, looking down at Rebekah. She didn't know if she believed that. 

"Well you don't need to ask me any questions since you've already heard my answers." Marina's smile was definitely fake and Rebekah could tell.

Rebekah didn't care though. She was intrigued by the supposed witch in front of her. 

"You're making me late," Marina parroted the first words Rebekah said to her. They both still standing just outside the cafeteria doors and the bell was about to ring.

"I'll just compel the teacher to mark us present," Rebekah said as she forcibly looped her arm through Marina's and started walking down the hall, pulling Marina with her. With their skin touching, Marina got the same feeling she would get from Kaya and that she got from Stefan earlier flush through her.

It was more intense then both of their's combined and Marina wasn't sure she wanted to know what that could mean.

As Marina was half-walked half-dragged by Rebekah to their next class, she could feel the continued stares of their peers. She could already hear a couple whispers wondering about what she and Stefan were talking about at lunch and now about her and Rebekah. 

"What do you want, exactly?" Marina dug her feet into the linoleum floor, halting Rebekah in her tracks.

"I think we could be friends, and I want us to be friends," Rebekah replied and Marina thought she might be telling the truth. "Stefan, Elena and her little gang already decided that they don't like me." Marina didn't look convinced so Rebekah added, "Don't tell me you have an abundance of friends at your beck and call. I've heard the rumors too, you know."

"Of course you have."

"Yes, well. Friends? Considering we're both rather short of them at the moment."

Marina stared at Rebekah. She glanced over her face, seeing now that the light smile on her face _was_ real while the one before was definitely not. She couldn't deny that she needed friends in Mystic Falls, but she wasn't quite sure befriended an apparently powerful and supposedly unliked vampire was the best idea. 

She didn't want to straight up say no, though. One, because she didn't know what Rebekah would do and two, she didn't actually know the girl yet. It wouldn't be fair to just turn her down.

So, Marina settled for the safe route.

"We'll see." 

* * *

By the end of the school day, Marina was definitely friends with Rebekah. It hadn't taken long for Marina to warm up to the vampire; she didn't know whether or not that was a good thing. 

Unfortunately for Marina, she and her little brother shared the same fatal flaw of loyalty. Sometimes she thinks her life would be much easier if she had something like hubris as a flaw like most demigods. They all seemed to be fine. 

After not even a full day, she already considered Rebekah her best friend and would probably do anything for her. Which could definitely lend itself to being a problem.

It was an issue that developed when she first arrived at camp; despite all the pain it caused her in the forms of Kaya Miller, Luke Castellan, Silena Beauregard, and Leo Valdez she never seemed to learn her lesson.

Her mind drifted to her lost friends briefly and she hoped her friendship with Rebekah wouldn't turn around and bit her in the ass. Knowing her luck, it probably would.

Despite knowing that, she stuck around with Rebekah anyway. Not that Rebekah gave her much of a choice in the beginning. But by the end, it was one hundred percent Marina's choice to cheer on Rebekah at cheer tryouts and meet her at the back to school bonfire that night. 

Marina had debated for a while about whether or not she would go to bonfire party before she eventually decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to hang out with Rebekah and meet some new, hopefully human, people. 

The woods behind the high school were filled with drunk teenagers that were only getting drunker. Kegs were dotted around between the trees, and Marina could spot a few bonfires going here and there. The biggest one was in the center of it all, but there were little ones spread throughout the designated 'party zone'. 

It didn't take long for her to spot Rebekah struggling to work a keg. 

"Rebekah!" She shouted as she made her way over to the vampire.

Rebekah's head snapped up, her blue eyes meeting Marina's own. In her distracted state, Stefan appeared and stole the red solo cup from Rebekah's hand. 

"Oh good, you made it," Rebekah said, relieved. 

"Hi, Marina," Stefan said,a faux sweetness to his voice both Rebekah and Marina detected. 

"Stefan," Marina gave a fake smile to match, "How _lovely_ to see you again."

"Excuse me." Marina gently moved out of the way for Elena who looked hellbent on getting drunk. 

"Elena, hi," Stefan greeted his ex— _had they officially broken up_ —girlfriend, the same faux sweetness on his voice. They watched as she filled up her solo cup from the keg, with far more ease than Rebekah. "What are you doing?"

"I'm having fun, _Stefan_ ," Elena said as she took a sip of beer. Marina could feel the tension in the air and desperately wanted to get out of there and away from relationship drama. "Have a problem with that?"

Unfortunately for Marina, Rebekah seemed overjoyed by the events happening in front of her. Marina suspected there was some history between her and Stefan and she just didn't like Elena.

Rebekah was thriving and Marina was growing amused as Elena downed her cup as Stefan told her, "Take it easy. We both know you're kind of a lightweight."

"Uh-huh. Really?" Elena laughed as she finished off her drink, looking up at Stefan incredulously, "You think I'm gonna let a blood addict tell me how to drink?"

 _Oh shit, okay_.

Elena dramatically threw her cup down before sauntering off, barely knocking shoulders with Stefan. 

Marina, Rebekah, and Stefan all shared a disbelieving look. Marina and Rebekah had half smiles on their face and both were tempted to outright laugh at Stefan but instead just gave him a condescending look. He rolled their eyes at them before walking away after Elena. 

"That was..."

"Entertaining?" Rebekah finished for Marina, letting out a quick laugh. 

"Just a little bit." Marina held up her hand, pinching her thumb and forefinger together so they were almost touching. She had actually found it very entertaining, but she felt bad. There was clearly a lot going on between the two that she didn't know about yet and she didn't want to make fun. 

"But whatever," Marina changed the subject, "Let's go find a bonfire and chill. Maybe we can make some s'mores."

"S'mores?"

The confusion in Rebekah's voice stopped Marina in her tracks. "Have you never had s'mores? How!"

"For your information, I was trapped in a coffin for the past ninety years," Rebekah said and Marina couldn't believe her ears.

_Vampires actually sleep in coffins?_

"Oh my gods, this is completely unacceptable." Marina grabbed hold of Rebekah's wrist and marched them towards the nearest bonfire. By chance, the three teenagers already there were roasting marshmallows already. The two girls quickly joined the group and Marina introduced Rebekah to magically experience of making and eating s'mores. 

As they were chomping on their graham cracker-y, chocolate-y, marshmallow-y goodness, Marina reminded herself to ask about the coffin comment later. She didn't know much about vampires, but she was certain that wasn't normal. 

But for now, she would enjoy her s'mores and her company and worry about all that vampire business in the morning.


	2. The Haunting of Apartment 3A

**Regret filled Marina's soul.** It rang through her like a bell. Ringing through her in time with the pounding in her head and her alarm clock.

When she had decided to go to the bonfire party with Rebekah she hadn't planned on drinking, let alone getting drunk.

But things never really go according to plan for demigods.

It was some time after the s'mores and during the time Damon Salvatore—a vampire just like his brother—decided to invade Marina and Rebekah's girl time that Marina decided she was going to need a drink to survive the night.

While Stefan was funny and irritating, Damon was just plain old irritating. And fortunately for Marina, cheap beer made him slightly more tolerable.

Unfortunately, that cheap beer came with some side effects. Like blacking out halfway into the night and waking up with her brain trying to kill itself. Her blaring alarm clock and the sun streaming through her window just so to land directly on her eyes did not help her brain one bit.

She thought the alarm was bad, possibly slightly louder than usual, but she was able to silence it by blindly punching her nightstand until she hit the alarm.

With the blaring gone, her headache finally started to wane. Unfortunately, her next action caused it to return tenfold.

Marina was no way prepared for the pain and burning that would come with managing to open her eyes.

"Fuck!" She immediately shut her eyes, throwing her hands over them for extra measure. In the back of her mind, she heard the faint laughing of a certain sun god. Marina turned in her bed, her back to the window, before opening her eyes to the semi-darkness of her room.

Marina looked up. Letting her messy hair fall down her back, she glared through the ceiling. "I hate you, Apollo." The sunlight coming through her window got brighter. "And you have shit taste in music." She flipped off the ceiling before turning her finger to the window.

When the sun got even brighter, Marina got out of bed. She paused for a moment when she stood; placing a hand to her head, she waited for the dizziness to pass. Once the room stopped spinning, she walked over to window. The sun glared into her eyes for a moment before she yanked the curtains shut.

"He's so annoying."

With the alarm quiet and the harsh sun hidden behind her curtains, Marina's headache had disappeared into a gentle throb. She walked out of her bedroom in search of a glass of water to get rid of the small headache, and hopefully cure her dry throat and cottonmouth.

Her apartment had an open floor plan so the second she left her bedroom, she was able to see the living room, dining table, and kitchen in one fell swoop. Which meant she was able to see the glass of water sitting on the counter beside her sink.

One she was sure was not there before.

The sight of it made her pause. Thoughts ran rampant through her head as she tried to figure out where it had come from.

Her sock-less feet walked her across her apartment. She moved slowly, carefully. Keeping an extra eye out on her surroundings to notice if anything else was amiss. As she neared the counter, she thought perhaps drunk Marina had been considerate enough to leave out the water for her so she could get rid of her hangover. Or maybe whoever brought her home—she really hoped someone brought her home and she wasn't left to fend for herself—had left it out for her.

But based on the three unmelted ice cubes still in the water, that was not the case. The glass was fresh: cold to the touch and little condensation sticking to the outside. Some had left this for her. Recently.

"Who the hell would break into my apartment just to leave me water?" Marina thought aloud as she touched the glass. Just the slight connection between her hand and the minimal water droplets on the glass relieved the remainder of her headache.

The only person she really knew in town was Rebekah but she hadn't been invited in. Unless of course, Rebekah is who brought her home.

Marina hoped that Rebekah would have stayed instead of just ominously leaving her water.

She thought twice about taking a sip. She didn't know who prepared it or what they could have done to it. Marina may have been a big fucking idiot (according to many demigods and her own brother) but she wasn't stupid enough to drink a drink she hadn't seen poured.

Even though she did blindly drink cheap beer out of a keg.

Gods forbid she has a glass of water.

As she stared at the glass, debating whether or not to drink it and trying to sense if it wasn't pure water—as pure as tap water could be—she was aware of every little movement in her apartment. The fluttering of her pastel curtains moving constantly with the AC unit beneath her window. The dust particles flowing in the few rays of sun. The spider crawling along the counter that she promptly killed with the glass of water.

With the harsh movements of the glass, water splashed and spilled over the edges, soaking both her hand and the counter.

On the upside, she was now fully awake. On the downside, her counter was soaked.

Fortunately, with just a flick of her wrist she was able to will the water into her sink and dry her counter and her arm.

She forgot how mysterious the glass of water was in the first place. With a horrible game of word association, her mind darted from the very dead spider to the horrible memories of watching Arachne fall into Tartarus and dragging Annabeth and Percy with her.

Marina had been so close to both of them. Her fingertips were a hair's breadth away. She was close enough to feel the heat radiating off her little brother's hand, but too far away to catch him when he let go.

She was able to see the fear and acceptance in Percy's eyes as he looked up at her. She remembered how fast her heart was pounding. In that moment, she was certain that even the monsters down in Tartarus could hear it beating and were attempting to claw their way up to drag her down with them.

She remembered how angry she was at Nico when he agreed to meet them at the Doors. How angry she was at Percy for letting go even though there was no way for them to save both him and Annabeth. He hand one hand clasped in hers and the other barely hanging on to the ledge too far for Marina or Nico to reach.

She remembered how they didn't scream as the well into the nothing. They just held each other and disappeared into the darkness.

She remembered how she thought—and still thinks—that if she had been just a little bit faster she would have been able to catch Annabeth before Arachne dragged her over the edge.

That memory had haunted her long after they returned from Tartarus. It still did in her dreams. But it had been replaced with something far worse.

Marina's mind was about to take her down another horrible memory when a quiet noise startled her out of her unpleasant reverie. She spun around. Her dark hair whipping around her face as she looked out into her apartment.

At first glance, nothing seemed wrong. The curtains were still fluttering, the dust was still shimmering, the AC unit was still blowing cold air to counteract the Virginia heat.

Everything was normal until something nudged against her sock-less feet. Marina's eyes squeezed shut. Her breath got caught in her throat. She was afraid to look, praying to Athena that it wasn't yet another arachnid invader.

Athena seemingly answered her prayers.

As Marina opened her eyes one eye at a time and looked down towards her feet, she spotted a simple pen resting a millimeter away from her foot. She let out a relieved breath and a quiet, "Thank the Gods," as she leant down to pick it up.

While she was happy that it wasn't a spider, the pen was still completely out of the ordinary. As was the note stuck to her fridge. A note that was definitely not there when she walked out of her room that morning.

"Rebekah?" Marina was hopeful that it was her new friend, but she knew in her heart of hearts that it wasn't the vampire. She would have easily heard a vampire rushing about her apartment. Something else was there.

Her footsteps were heavy as she walked the few feet from the sink to the fridge so she could read the fluttering note. It was written in a chicken scrawl she was familiar with but couldn't place on a piece of paper that looked to be from one of her many school notebooks. Her hand shook with some form of nerves as she ripped it off the fridge.

There was no magnet and the paper wasn't sticky but the paper gave way easily.

It was something she didn't notice in the moment.

Marina eyes raked over the words more times than she could count. A mixture of dyslexia and horrible handwriting making the note near impossible to read.

After struggling for a while, she managed to understand it. But she couldn't believe it. She read it again and again, acting as though the words were going to somehow change. They never did.

_"Ariel, I go through all the trouble of making you a glass of water and you don't even drink it. Rude."_

Emotion hit her like a freight train as she looked around her apartment with glassy eyes.

There was only one person in the world who ever regularly called her that. But it couldn't be him. He was dead.

_Leo Valdez was dead_.

She, and every other demigod, had seen it with their own eyes. They had all felt the distant warmth on their face from the explosion in the sky. Leo sacrificing himself so they could defeat Gaea once and for all.

It was his death—and the others who fell during the battle against Gaea and her gigantes—that pushed her to leave Camp. She couldn't stand to be there without Mr. Bad Boy Supreme there.

It didn't feel right.

"Leo?" Marina choked out a sob as her teary eyes darted around the apartment, hoping and praying to Melinoe for the son of Hephaestus to materialize before her. She called his name more as her eyes scoured the apartment for any trace of him.

She couldn't stop the shaking that had overtaken her right hand or ignore the pain that was shooting up from her palm. Especially considering she hadn't felt anything with her right palm for a month. Not since she had tried and failed to stop Leo from sacrificing himself.

If she had held on a little longer, despite the pain he caused her, he might still be alive. Marina was sure they would have been able to come up with another plan. Another plan to defeat Gaea without losing another one of their own. Prophecy be damned.

The shaking spread up her arm as Marina thought of her last moments with Leo. The dread when she realized what he was going to do. The feeling of his skin against hers as she gripped his arm as tight as she could. The desperation in her voice as she begged him to stay. The regretful look in his eyes as his skin turned molten underneath her hand. The burning pain followed by absolutely nothing at all as her hand burned, singeing off the nerve endings and the smell of burnt flesh. The sound of her screams blending into the noise of the battle.

Her face was filled with pain that she couldn't feel as she waited for something to happen. For someone—hopefully Leo—to reveal themselves.

Time seemed to stop as she waited for nothing to happen. Nothing moved. No new notes appeared. No pens fell to the ground. The apartment—and everything in it—was still apart from her fluttering curtains and the rapid rise and fall of Marina's chest.

All life seemed to be sucked out of the apartment.

Marina felt like if she looked outside her windows she would see nothing but a never ending abyss of black, her small loft floating around in the middle of it. There would be no town square, no Mystic Grill, no Joe's Thrift Shop. If she opened her front door, she wouldn't see the door to apartment 3B or the ugly doormat the neighbor she'd yet to meet put in front of it.

In that moment of pain and despair, nothing existed outside of her apartment. Nothing but herself and whoever, or whatever, was with her existed within the apartment either. Not even her altar, which sat by the window and held not only her and her mother's grimoires but shrines to her father and numerous other gods was lifeless and seemed devoid of the usual magic surrounding it.

It was an odd experience but something that wasn't entirely uncommon. It was the first time it had happened since she'd arrived in Mystic Falls, but it occurred frequently at camp. Back when Marina was the only child in Poseidon's cabin. When she felt so completely alone without her mother, her Mystic Falls friends, and without the rambunctiousness of the Hermes Cabin.

It had rarely been a comforting feeling: of being alone in the universe. It had only been nice when she was alone with someone, like she was now.

Except now being alone with someone wasn't as comforting as it once was.

Not like how it had been with Calypso.

A knock reverberated through her door and life rushed back into her apartment. She could suddenly hear the fly buzzing around her apartment and the bustle of people in the town square as they prepared for some event or other.

The world existed again.

And whoever was with her, Leo or other, had vanished.

* * *

Rebekah had been waiting on the other side of her door. Apparently, after Rebekah had escorted Marina home—which she had thanked her for profusely—Marina had insisted that Rebekah stop by that day so they could hang out, do girly things, and Rebekah could explain what she meant when she said she'd been locked in a coffin for ninety years.

It had taken a moment for Marina to collect herself after her ordeal before Rebekah arrived but she was glad to get out of the apartment. After brushing off Rebekah's concerns and finally inviting her inside, Marina rushed off to her room to get changed out of the party clothes she had fallen asleep in.

Soon enough, she and Rebekah were walking out of her apartment and Marina was doing everything in her power to forget what happened.

Luckily for her, Rebekah's life story—or at least the simplified version—was a wonderful distraction.

"So, your brother Niklaus likes to cart you and your many siblings—like way too many siblings, honestly, what were your parents thinking?—around in coffins?" Marina tried to clarify as she and Rebekah walked into the Mystic Grill.

"My parents were thinking that it's the tenth century and half of us were going to die to some sort of plague or sickness." Rebekah headed a booth nestled in a corner of the Grill. "Their first born died to some plague or other in the Old World—"

"—So they decided to just start popping out kids hoping they'll stick?" Marina laughed as she slid into the booth across from Rebekah.

"Over a thousand years later and we're only missing one," Rebekah said, picking up the menus from the centerpiece and handing one to Marina. Neither of the girls had been to the Mystic Grill before, so neither of them knew what they liked there. Rebekah had more of an excuse than Marina considering she just woke up a couple days ago. Marina had just been hiding out in her apartment for the last week instead of exploring her hometown.

Their conversation got cut off by a waitress with pretty eyes and a prettier smile coming up to their table with her notepad at the ready. "What can I get you two ladies?"

"Uhm..." Marina looked back down at the menu, searching for something to eat, "I will have a coke, a cheeseburger, and a thing of fries, please." She smiled up at the waitress: Allie based off her name tag.

Allie beamed right back as she wrote down Marina's order. "You're Marina Kersey, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Marina's smile faded somewhat as a slight frown took over her face, "How'd you know? Do I know you?" Marina knew she didn't know Allie. She wouldn't mind knowing her, though.

"I'm in your first period stat class," Allie explained lightly, her smile never fading. "And coming back from the dead doesn't exactly go unnoticed around here. I'm pretty sure the whole town knows who you are."

A grimace grew on her face. Marina darted her eyes to the table as she said dejectedly, "Lovely."

Rubbing at the back of her neck, Allie tried something else. In an attempt to win back her favor, and hopefully return the smile to Marina's face, Allie slightly changed the subject, "Well, uh, I heard you've been in New York for the past couple years."

Marina nodded, her smile returning slightly. Allie's mission was a sucess. "Yeah, I was. I was living my dad and my brother."

"You know, I've always wanted to go to New York." Allie twiddled with her pen, flicking it against her notepad. "I've heard it's amazing there. The hustle of the city must be so different to a small town like Mystic Falls—"

Rebekah cleared her throat, dragging Allie and Marina's eyes from each other to her. "I'd like to order please." She had been looking between the two girls during their conversation, not that either had noticed.

"Right, sorry." Allie collected herself and brought her pen up ready to write, "What would you like?"

"I'll have what Rina's having." Something was off about Rebekah's smile. Marina wasn't entirely sure what it was, but Allie knew right away: it was tight, filled to the brim with some kind of protective, possessive sort of jealousy.

"Of course." Allie sent Rebekah an apologetic smile and wandered back to the kitchen to give their orders.

"Thanks, love." The smile was still tight on Rebekah's face. Unforgiving.

Marina made no mention of it, probably because she didn't notice. Anyone who was watching or eavesdropping on the two girls—like old lady McCullough, the Sulez twins, and Damon Salvatore—easily noticed and understood the way Rebekah was acting around Marina.

The Sulez twins thought it was cute; old lady McCullough thought it was disgusting and Damon Salvatore couldn't have been happier to have been in the Grill during that moment. Anything he could use against one of the Originals was amazing news to him and instantly made his day. Even though he, like Marina, was being haunted by someone he used to know.

The food was brought out quickly. Allie gave both the girls a quick smile before wandering off to another table in her section.

"Rina?" Marina questioned with a teasing smile. "We're in nickname territory already, huh, _Bex_?"

Rebekah—Bex—sent Marina a tight, sarcastic smile, before abruptly changing the subject. She didn't want to talk about the fast moving friendship between the witch and the vampire. "Why did you leave New York?" The question had been on the tip of Rebekah's tongue since Allie brought the city up in conversation. "It's a strange change."

"Things in New York just weren't working out," Marina said. It was a severe understatement on her part. Two wars in two years and the loss of many friends garnered more than a ' _i_ _t wasn't working out'_. "I needed a break from the city life and thought of Mystic Falls. So here I am."

"Your dad and brother didn't come with you?" Rebekah questioned as they ate.

"No, my dad is really busy with..." she tried to come up with something other than he was a Greek God and lived in Olympus, "...work. And my brother didn't want to transfer schools and leave his girlfriend." It wasn't like Marina had even offered the chance to come with her to Percy. She had just assumed that he would want to stay at Goode with Annabeth.

Marina was glad she hadn't offered, too. It was bad enough she was getting pulled into supernatural drama. There was no need to involve Percy in it as well.

"How about you?" Marina questioned, "What brought you and your brother to Mystic Falls?"

"He had some business to take care of." Rebekah didn't technically lie as she chewed on a fry. "He's a twat, though—"

"—Yes, you've mentioned that—" Marina laughed before taking a sip of her coke.

"—and he left me behind." Rebekah's phone buzzed with an incoming call. She pulled her new cell phone out of her pocket. A glance at the caller id made her scowl but she answered anyways. But not without a quick, "Speak of the devil," to Marina as she slid to accept the call. "Hello, Nik, you bastard." She stood from the booth, mouthing to Marina that she'd be right back, and left Grill to talk to Niklaus.

Marina sat in silence as she waited for Rebekah to return. She slowly ate away at her burger and fries as she looked around the Grill.

When she and Rebekah first walked in, Marina didn't get to get a good look at the place. She had been too engrossed in Rebekah's story to be able to appreciate the rustic restaurant. The lights were dim and the vibe of the restaurant, bar, and café was immaculate. Looking at the teenagers playing pool, the families chatting over lunch, and the people sitting at the bar, Marina understood why the Grill was the popular 'hot-spot' among the locals.

She was glancing back over the place when she saw something strange at the bar. Damon Salvatore was drinking with Mr. Saltzman of all people. Coming up beside them was a strange man Marina didn't recognize. Though that wasn't saying mcuh considering she didn't recognize most people in Mystic Falls. Neither Damon or Mr. Saltzman seemed to realize the man was there until he picked up Damon's drink and shotgunned the whisky inside before promptly smashing it against Damon's forehead.

Marina guffawed at the action. She quickly turned her laugh to a cough when Damon and his companion glanced over at her. They both got a quick wave as her face turned red from being caught before her attention darted back down to the table and the girl now sitting across from her.

At first she figured it was Rebekah, but after actually looking at her new companion that was obviously not the case. The first difference was the dark skin that was nowhere near Rebekah's fine, alabaster tone.

Marina watched the seemingly stranger's hands reach into Rebekah's fry basket. She was about to question the woman before her eyes landed on her face. Her hair was long, straight, and as gorgeous as Marina remembered it.

"Kaya?"

The dead girl's red lips curved in a smile. "Hey, princess."

Kaya Miller, the only vampire Marina knew before going to Mystic Falls, had been dead for months. No one at Camp knew what happened to her, only that she went out on a quest and never returned. Her mother, Iris, had shown a beautiful rainbow over Long Island for a week after they burned her shroud to the confusion of many mortals.

"How..?" Marina stared in awe; Kaya looked exactly the same, "How are you here?"

"Magic," Kaya said lightly as she stole Marina's drink, "Basically it always boils down to magic. I think some witch is tampering with stuff here on the Other Side. All of us over there are over here now."

"All of you?" Marina didn't want to be hopeful. Things never went demigods' way. Everything always ended up turning sour.

Kaya gave her a gentle, knowing smile, "All of us."

She reached across the table and grabbed a hold of Marina's hand. Marina glanced down at it before looking up at Kaya. Not wanting to think about the thoughts racing through her head at Kaya's confirmation, Marina changed the subject: "Were you in my apartment earlier?"

"...Yeah," Kaya admitted. She looked ashamed, guilty, and most of all, sorry. "I was just trying to be funny with the whole, ya know, Ariel thing. And then you asked if I was Leo and I felt really bad to make you go through all that so I left. I'm really, really, sorry Mars."

"Hey, hey." Marina pulled her hand out from under Kaya's just to place it on top of her. She looked her in the eyes, deep brown meeting bright blue, "It's okay. I was just a little freaked. It's not every day you get haunted by your ex-girlfriend."

"Ex?" The area around the table seemed to lighten at Kaya's joking tone. "Hun, we never broke up."

"Not officially, no." Marina was glad to join in on the joking tone instead of focus on everything else, "But you did die. I think that's a good indicator for the end of a relationship."

"Please," Kaya fondly rolled her eyes and waved her hand to dismiss Marina's words, "A little bit of necrophilia never hurt anyone."

Marina couldn't help but laugh. And it felt good. To see someone from _before_. To see _her_. Especially after things had ended so suddenly. 

They never made it far. Far enough to love or for a future. But those months spent together were wonderful for the both of them. It was a way for them to distract themselves from everything wrong going on around them. To distract Marina from her missing brother. To distract Kaya from the fact that she was now something _other_ ; more _other_ than a demigod. 

It was wonderful before. Before the war. Before she died. And it was wonderful after.


	3. Mystic Falls' Personal Ghostbusters

**Something strange was going on in Mystic Falls.** The thin veiled matter that existed between the material world and the world beyond had been revealed.

Kaya wasn't sure how long the ghosts would be able to stay unveiled. She herself couldn't be sure if it was going be an hour, a day, or a minute. She doubted it would be long, though. Especially considering the people in Mystic Falls.

Ever since Marina had moved from Camp Half-Blood to Mystic Falls, Kaya had spent a majority of her time in the small town. Occasionally she would return to Camp to check on her half-brother Butch to see how he was running the Cabin without her or visit her father up in New Hampshire.

But most of her time was spent in Mystic Falls. She probably knew it, and it's people, better than Marina. When Marina wasn't doing anything particularly interesting—which was most of the time considering she spent the first week holed up in her apartment—Kaya explored the town. She stalked random people, especially the ones she thought were cute: namely, Elena Gilbert and Bonnie Bennett.

Kaya had even gone to school with them. While Marina was sleeping somewhat soundly in her bed, Kaya was witnessing Senior Prank Night at Mystic Falls High School. She had also seen Niklaus and Rebekah Mikaelson in action against the innocent teenagers of Mystic Falls. She didn't want someone like that, someone like Rebekah, around Marina. Even if Rebekah seemed to consider Marina her best friend after only a day.

Most of the information she got on the originals came from her sire. She had been accidentally turned by his blood in a particularly nasty encounter with a group of cyclopses. She had managed to send them all to Tartarus before succumbing to her wounds. After waking up in his temporary home and going through with the transition, he felt the need to train her and teach her her vampire history. Which included information on his siblings.

She had heard more of the Mikaelsons, specifically Niklaus, from other vampires and witches she ran into with rather mixed reviews. Most were terrified of what used to legends. She just didn't know how to tell Marina.

Especially seeing how happy Marina was with Rebekah the other day and earlier eating lunch. The vampire had even managed to get Marina to leave her apartment for something other than grocery shopping and school. Although, Marina did also get blackout drunk under Rebekah's watch. Kaya supposed that was more stinky Damon Salvatore's fault than anybody else's though.

Kaya had noticed how Rebekah didn't tell Marina the whole truth about why the Mikaelson's had returned to Mystic Falls. There was no mention of sacrifices and tormenting teenagers. Only _business_.

She knew that she had to tell Marina the truth about her new friend. Kaya couldn't in good conscious let Marina run around with a psychotic, killer vampire who had no care for human life. But she also couldn't ruin Marina's only friendship in Mystic Falls. She didn't know how Marina would react and, more importantly, she didn't know how Rebekah would react if Marina suddenly cut her off and started acting incredibly hostile out of nowhere.

The news of Rebekah's true nature couldn't be revealed quite yet. Kaya had other, more pressing, matters to address with Marina. Matters that couldn't be carried out in such a public place like the Grill.

* * *

When Marina felt the light hearted mood drop from their conversation and heard Kaya's more serious tone, she immediately dropped money on the table for her and Rebekah's check. The girls weaved throughout the crowd of people and tables at the Grill. As they left through the front door, Marina looked back at the bar to see Damon, Mr. Saltzman, and their companion looking at the girls as they left the building.

She felt like they knew what Kaya was.

And she didn't like that at all.

When they got outside to the somewhat busy streets of the town, Marina didn't even notice that Rebekah and her phone were nowhere to be seen. She was too focused on Kaya, the way the wind flowed through her hair and the way her fingers felt pressed into the back of Marina's scarred hand. 

She was sad she couldn't feel all of it anymore. Though she should be surprised she could feel it all considering Kaya's ghostly state.

"So," Marina asked as they walked through town, "Where are you taking me?"

"To see her." To anyone else, Kaya's comment would have been frustratingly vague and seen as a horrible time for the pronoun game. Marina, however, immediately knew who Kaya was talking about.

"Where is she?" Marina eyed the houses on either side of the street they were walking down. A familiar feeling tinged in the back of her mind thought she couldn't recall where it was from or why it was there.

"Here." Their walk came to an end in front of an abandoned house.

Looking at it, it was easy to see that the house hadn't been touched for far too long. Not even squatters or the small homeless population in Mystic Falls had taken to calling the abandoned property home.

The porch was starting to fall apart, as were the shutters. Though untouched, the house itself didn't look too terrible. It was the lawn and everything around it that ruined the aesthetic of the probably once fine family home. It seemed that the grass was the only think to grow during the neglect; even it was broken and twisted and _wrong_.

The trees and bushes and everything surrounding the property—even spreading slightly into the neighboring yards on either side—were long dead with no hope of bring it back.

Demeter would be heartbroken just looking at it.

Marina's own heart felt like it was going to crack. She ran her hands through the corrupted grass as she and Kaya walked to the front door. It was coarse and brittle between her fingers. She felt like a good gust of wind could cut through the whole lawn like a scythe.

Despite how neglected, desolate, and broken the home looked, Marina knew it. It had a familiar feeling just like the rest of the neighborhood. But this she could recognize. Had it not been for the picture that used to sit beside her bunk that she would look at every night of her mother with a small bundle wrapped in her arms in front of that very home, Marina wouldn't even recognize the home her mother raised her in.

"Oh." Life left her lungs for a moment before rushing back in when she saw her mother standing in the threshold of her childhood home.

"Hi, sweetie." Joanna smiled at the girls, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked at her daughter. They fell over the time she lost with Marina, "Why don't you two come inside?"

Marina said nothing as she looked up at her dead mother. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kaya walk her way up the decaying stairs. They looked like they should creak under the weight of Kaya's feet but they were simply silent. 

Kaya wasn't really _there_ , though. She was _dead_ , Marina had to remind herself. She was a ghost. Just like her mother. 

Marina followed her friend. The stairs leading up to the porch creaking under her living weight. While Kaya continued into the dilapidated home, Marina stopped on the porch in front of Joanna. She felt strange as she looked at the ghost of her mother. The two women were nearly at eye level, Joanna maybe a little bit shorter than her now grown daughter. In Marina's mind, Joanna had been a giant. Especially compared to her eight year old self. Seeing that she was now taller didn't exactly sit right with her. 

She didn't like how she was feeling. Seeing her mother. Marina had been ecstatic to see Kaya, horribly saddened and incredibly hopeful at the thought of Leo. But now, looking at her mother, she felt strange. Happy, of course. But there weren't many things, apart from Joanna's death, that Marina tied with her mother.

Leo had been one of her best friends, someone she took under her wing the moment he got to camp with Jason and Piper. Kaya was her girlfriend; her first time; she knew that if they had gotten more time together before she died, she could have loved her.

Joanna was an odd spot. She was too young then and too old now to hold more memories of her. She felt like she should be feeling more than she was. It didn't sit right with her.

Nothing about what was happening sat right with Marina. 

Spirits are supposed to stay in Hades. Unless, of course, they were summoned. She felt like Nico or Hazel would tell her if they were in Mystic Falls summoning the spirits of her dead mother and ex-girlfriend.

She had been too caught up in the hope of Leo and the joy of Kaya that the fact that _this shouldn't be happening_ didn't even occur to her. Not until she was standing in front of a woman she hadn't seen in over a eleven years and barely remembered.

_Joanna Kersey should not be here. Kaya Miller should not be here._

"Come in, Marsie," Joanna ushered her daughter inside. 

Hesitantly, she followed. Her foot passed over the threshold of the long forgotten home and suddenly she was eight years old again. She had been so happy before she opened the door. It was the first day of third grade and Vicki something or other had gone up to Marina and said that they were going to be best friends forever. 

Marina had always kept to herself as a child, even at Camp. Apparently, Vicki had wanted to be her friend for ages but finally worked up the courage when she saw Marina's brand knew _Ren & Stimpy _backpack. 

She had been so excited to tell her mother about her new best friend that she couldn't even sense something was wrong. Not until it was hitting her in the face that is. She vaguely remembered the joy she felt dissipate into nothing when she opened the unlocked door.

 _The door was never unlocked._

Vicki had completely evaporated from her mind as dread washed over her. Nothing had looked wrong when she ran inside, but there was a certain electricity in the air. Like lightning was preparing to strike inside the small family home. (She would later realize that that feeling was magic, and a whole lot of it, too.)

Joanna led her through the house. Marina eyed the walls. The paint was chipped and the walls were empty. The entire house was. It was a corpse of her childhood. The pictures and paintings were gone, as was the furniture. She briefly wondered if her crayon and marker scribbles were still hidden within her closest or if a realtor had it painted over. 

As they walked, Marina could vaguely remember the muted sound of her sneakers against the carpet as she desperately shouted for her mother. The sound of her backpack thudding against the floor. The empty look in Joanna's eyes and the stillness of her chest. The strange eyes of the man standing over her corpse. 

Pushing the fuzzy memory from her mind, Marina entered the den.

* * *

Years and seconds seemed to pass simultaneously between the moments of Marina entering the naked den of her childhood home and her rummaging through Damon Salvatore's underwear drawer. They—they being her, Kaya, Caroline Forbes, and Bonnie Bennett—were supposed to be looking for an ancient witch's talisman so they could send the ghosts back to the other side.

Actually, the weren't even supposed to be looking. They were supposed to be grabbing and going. But the necklace wasn't where Damon said it was.

So while Caroline called Elena, the rest of them began searching through the rest of the room. Kaya was taking great joy in tearing his bed apart while Bonnie checked searched through his closet. They left Marina with his dresser.

She had been avoiding that particular drawer, but when she didn't find the talisman in his shirt, pant, or sock drawer she knew she had to check. A grimace was stuck on her face as she picked up each pair with her fingernails and flung it to the side.

Noticing the look on her ex's face, Kaya laughed. "So is Damon more boxers or briefs? He's a dick, so I'm assuming briefs."

Marina said nothing. The grimace on her face grew deeper, getting a laugh out of Kaya, and Bonnie as well. With a lack of response and morbid curiosity on her side, Bonnie ditched her search through his closet and joined Marina at the dresser. Peering into the contents of the drawer, she let out a hum of approval that peaked Kaya's curiosity further.

"What is it?" Kaya whined as she pushed herself up from under the bed.

Bonnie giggled as she picked up one of Damon's intimates. As Kaya peaked her head out from under the bed, Bonnie threw it in her direction. Landing directly on the dead vampire's face. She reached up and peeled the garment from her skin.

"Boxer-briefs!" Kaya laughed before throwing them back at Bonnie. She easily caught it and tossed it back into the drawer. "Very classy, Mr. Salvatore."

The three girls laughed like lifelong friends. Like the situation they were in—sorting through a hundred something year old vampire's bedroom for a thousand year old witch's necklace—was completely normal. Like they had known each other and had been doing things like this for ages.

When, in fact, it was Caroline and Bonnie's first time officially meeting Marina. Sure they had seen her around school but they hadn't actually spoken to each other before Bonnie's Grams sent them to pick up Kaya and Marina.

Of course, it wasn't actually their first time meeting. Not for Bonnie and Marina, at least. Not that either girl really remembered, considering how young they'd been when Bonnie's mom brought Marina home.

Bonnie and Marina had known each other briefly in the fall '99. Bonnie's mom had let Marina live with them while funeral preparations were made. She probably would have let Marina live with them permanently if Marina hadn't been suddenly carted off to Camp Half-Blood in the middle of the night.

To what could have been.

"What?!" Seeing Kaya, Bonnie, and Marina all stop their searches to stare at her, Caroline lowered her voice, "But you said you were in full support of getting rid of them."

It didn't take a genius to figure out who _them_ was. The ghosts. Kaya. Joanna. Bonnie's Grams and however many supernatural creatures who had stayed in Mystic Falls in the afterlife.

Caroline sighed as Elena supposedly explained over the phone. Not that Bonnie or Marina could hear her. "Okay, well let's just find it first and then we'll chose between boyfriend ghost dramas—and girlfriend actually." Marina assumed Elena let out a confused _What?_ at Caroline's addendum. "Yeah, Marina's ex-girlfriend is here helping us look for the necklace." With that, she hung up.

"What are you talking about?" Bonnie asked.

Neither Marina or Kaya were sure why but she looked like she was going to choke or cry or both.

Caroline spun around, her back to Kaya who had moved to sit Damon's bed, and faced Bonnie, Marina, and Damon's drawer of boxer-briefs. She looked guilty. "Um...Lexi's back, so Elena wants us to hold off on destroying the necklace." She nodded at the end. Convincing herself that that was the full story. 

Bonnie pushed off the dresser as she walked over to Caroline. Marina could practically feel the tension and suspicion coming off the witch. "You said boyfriend dramas. Plural. What is it, Caroline?"

Regret, despair, and disappoint rushed out of Caroline with a single breath. She looked up at Bonnie with sad eyes as she twiddled with her phone, "Elena caught Jeremy kissing," she didn't want to say the name but she knew she had to, "Anna."

As Caroline spoke, Marina looked over at Kaya, mouthing _Jeremy?_

Kaya stopped for a moment before mouthing back, _Elena's brother_. 

"What?" Marina's heart broken with Bonnie's. She sounded so vulnerable when she spoke. "He kissed her?"

"She's got a foothold now, so she probably thinks that she's here to stay. But you and I, Bonnie," she grabbed onto Bonnie's shoulders, shaking her out of whatever saddened state she had fallen into, "with Marina and Kaya's help, we're going to find that necklace. Okay?" Bonnie nodded slightly. Caroline looked over to Marina to see her doing the same and then over her shoulder at Kaya to see fierce determination on face. "Okay."

"I can help banish them too," Marina walked over to Bonnie, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. It didn't have entirely the desired affect with Bonnie jumping at the odd texture of her burnt hand.

"Wow, thanks," Kaya was sarcastic in her tone. She knew the ghosts had to go, her included. "Also, Caroline, I resent the comment about girlfriend drama. Marina and I never broke up, there is no drama here."

Marina rolled her eyes. She removed her hand from Bonnie's shoulder to look over at Kaya, "We've been over this, Kaya. You died. That constitutes a breakup."

"And like I said before, a little necrophilia never hurt anybody. Just ask Frank."

"Zhang?" Marina wasn't entirely sure what the son of Mars had to do with this.

"Yeah, Hazel was _dead_. Nobody is judging them—"

"—She came back to life!—"

Kaya ignored Marina and trucked on with her rapid train of thought, "—Actually, practically everyone is Mystic Falls is dating a dead guy," Kaya's eyes widened as she realized something else to add to her pointless argument on necrophilia (which was definitely not okay), " _In fact_ , I was dead when we started dating! I've been a vampire since oh-six and we started dating in twenty ten. So, basically, nothing's changed. We just haven't seen each other in a couple months. "

"Vampires are actually undead," Caroline cut in. Glancing briefly at Bonnie, she could see that their strange lovers spat was cheering her up slightly, "But now you're dead-dead, so..."

"That's irrelevant, Coraline."

"This whole conversation is irrelevant, Kai." With her arms crossed over her chest, Marina stared Kaya down, "We need to find this talisman, okay. We need to send—what was her name—Anna? back. And whoever else is haunting Mystic Falls." She turned to Caroline and Bonnie for a moment, "How many vampires, or just supernatural creatures in general, have died here?"

"I wouldn't even know where to start," Bonnie said honestly, "In the past year, too many to count."

"Okay then," Marina naturally seemed to take charge, "Let's keep searching then."

Everyone nodded, letting her take her position as leader, and went their separate ways. Bonnie went back to the closet. Kaya tackled the night stands. Caroline went into the massive en suite and Marina began poking at the floorboards with the heel of her boot.

She had seen it in some television show when she was younger. The daughter hid away CDs and makeup from her strict mom in the floorboards of her bedroom.

Damon could be smart enough to do that but she sincerely doubted it. And he would have no reason to lie to Caroline and Bonnie about where he hid it. 

Marina sincerely doubted that they would find the necklace in here as some ghost or other had definitely taken it. 

Nevertheless, they persisted in their search. 

* * *

Before long, Damon Salvatore's bedroom was completely trashed: all of his loose floorboards had been ripped up by Marina; his mattress and boxspring were still scattered on the floor from Kaya's earlier search; the clothes in his closet were thrown about the floor and the drawers to his dresser had been ripped out by Bonnie so she could do a more extensive search.

Caroline was in the bathroom, rustling through his cabinets and soap dish when she let out a frustrated scream. She ran her hands through her now disheveled hair as she looked over the mess of the room.

"I give up! It's not anywhere in this room!"

Neither Marina or Kaya would admit it, but they were glad to hear her admit defeat. They were both exhausted. Marina more-so than Kaya considering she was actually alive. Even then she was more mentally exhausted than physically. Her day started with her thinking she was being haunted by Leo Valdez. Then she saw her dead girlfriend and her dead mom. Not to mention the words Joanna spoke in the den before Bonnie and Caroline picked up. And she even got to relive finding her mother's dead body while she explored her dilapidated childhood home.

And it only just became dark.

Flopping onto Damon's mattress—which was now much closer to the bathroom than the actual bed frame— Kaya let out a sigh of relief. Bonnie threw down whatever piece of clothing was in he hand as Marina collapsed by the most recently pulled-up floorboard.

They didn't even get a moment to rest as Bonnie's phone immediately started to buzz with a call. Ditching the scattered drawers, Bonnie marched over to her phone. With one glance at the screen, she knew she wasn't going to answer it. She looked over at Caroline and within a second Caroline knew who was calling.

Marina and Kaya were, once again, slightly confused, having just been thrust into the drama of Mystic Falls, but they had some suspicions as to who could be on the other end of the phone.

When Caroline roughly answered with a harsh, "What do you want, Jeremy?" their suspicions were confirmed.

Marina could practically feel the irritation radiating off Caroline. She could tell when it turned to confusion and concern when, after she responded to Jeremy's unheard question, she said: "Wait, what's going on?"

There was a long pause while Jeremy spoke. Not entirely sure what to do, and rather curious, both Kaya and Marina got off the bed and the floor and wandered over to Caroline and Bonnie. The irritation was back.

"Well, it's not where it's supposed to be," she sighed, "Unless, someone took it." Rolling her eyes, she stared right at Bonnie as she answered, "Well, who do you think?"

"That Anna chick?" Marina clarified with a short nod from both Bonnie and Caroline.

"Marina—" Jeremy seemed to cut her off, "Marina Kersey is here with us, Jeremy. But that's not important. What's important right now, is that you believe your little ghost girlfriend didn't steal the one thing that would send her and her other little vampire friends away."

"You know what—" Anger filled the room. All the girls were getting pissed on Bonnie's behalf, "You're an even bigger idiot than I thought. So wake up, Jeremy, before you lose everything." She roughly hung up the phone as the last sound left her mouth and slammed it against Damon's dresser.

"Men ain't shit, Bon," Kaya, being Kaya, tried to reassure. "That's why Marina and I like to stick to the ladies."

"I..." Marina looked over at Kaya, a frown prominent on her face, "I don't like men? I don't get a choice in the matter."

"That's why you're so lucky, Mars," Kaya groaned, throwing herself back onto Damon's mattress, "You don't even have the capacity to like these shitbags." She quickly pushed herself back up, leaning against her left hand as she motioned at Caroline and Bonnie with her right, "They know what I'm talking about."

Caroline couldn't help but nod, thinking about some of the shitty boyfriends she's had over the years.

Marina had no idea what they were talking about, having only dated three people in her life. Two were dead—one now in Elysium with her boyfriend and the other sitting in the same room as her—and the other was trapped in Ogygia for eternity after Marina had abandoned her there to fight against the Titans in Manhattan.

It was strange to her that she would never see any of them again. Until now, of course.

"How did you two meet?" Caroline asked as she walked to sit next to Kaya.

The demigods made eye contact for a moment. A smirk present on Kaya's face as she answered, "A summer camp up in Long Island."

"We didn't actually meet at camp, though," Marina corrected, a sly smile on her face. "I had seen you around before, but we never actually interacted until the..." she tried to come up with something other than the Second Titanomachy, "...field trip to Manhattan." She looked over to Bonnie, "I totally saved her life."

"Stop telling people you saved my life!" Kaya laughed. "It was the other way around, princess."

"Wait, you two are actually super cute," Caroline pouted, "I wish Tyler and I were like this."

"What's wrong with you and Lockwood?" Marina was genuinely asking. She wasn't privy to much of the supernatural drama that occurred before the first day of school. Not like Kaya.

Caroline immediately grew defensive, "You're new best friend is what's wrong with him."

Taken aback but the sudden hostility, Marina frowned, "Who? Rebekah?"

"Yeah, _Rebekah._ Her brother killed him and turned him into a hybrid and now he's some kind of slave!" Caroline ranted.

"Niklaus?" Caroline could feel Kaya tense as Marina spoke the hybrid's name.

"He terrorized us all last year," Bonnie spoke up, "He killed Elena, and her aunt. He tried to sacrifice Tyler and Care. Not to mention he's the reason Stefan is the way he is now. He compelled him to flip his humanity switch. Their brother was going to help us kill him, but he ended up betraying us too."

"That whole family is rotten, Marina," Caroline said gently. She could see Marina growing more and more distressed as she and Bonnie listed off the crimes of the Mikaelsons. "You have to stay away from her."

"She's my best friend, Caroline," Marina voice and aura grew defensive, setting the vampires in the room on edge.

Caroline rolled her eyes, her gentleness gone, "Oh grow up, Marina. You've known her for what, a day?"

"I've known her longer than I've known you." Even as she said that, with as much gusto as she could. Even as she didn't want to believe a single word coming out of Caroline or Bonnie's mouth. Even if she wanted to stay by Rebekah, who she just realized she hadn't seen since she took a call from the evil Niklaus. She couldn't help but think, _Of course. Of course, the first fucking friend I make turns out to be evil._ She couldn't help but think of a certain son of Hermes she knew once upon a time.

Ever the moderator, Bonnie cut in before Caroline could say something particularly harsh. Bonnie wasn't sure how Marina would react, especially considering the power that she radiated seemed to grow stronger and more intense as Caroline went on. "We need to focus on the ghosts right now and getting that necklace. Let's go."

When she saw Caroline open her mouth, to no doubt say something nasty, she immediately shut her down. "Now, Caroline."

* * *

Situated in Bonnie's car, it was impossible for Caroline to get further away from Marina than she was now. She was pushing herself as far into the passenger door as she could. When her phone rang with a call from Jeremy, she gladly picked it up to distract from Marina's decidedly threatening energy.

Not that it had changed at all, Caroline just now viewed her as a potential enemy.

The good news Jeremy brought her was even better.

"Okay," she hung up, looking over at Bonnie as she ignored the two in the back seat, "Jeremy has the necklace. He's gonna meet us at the Witch House."

"Okay," Bonnie nodded. She was looking at the road through the windshield when she noticed an accident on the side of the road. "What's going on up there?" She nodded to the accident, as they got closer the Mystic Falls natives recognized Carol Lockwood unconscious in the driver's seat.

"It's Mrs. Lockwood's car," Caroline said before jerking forward.

Bonnie abruptly hit the breaks, stopping the car before it could hit the man stalking toward's Mrs. Lockwood's car. He looked back at them, making eye contact with Caroline before he, and a bunch of others who seemingly came out of nowhere, continued walking towards the crashed car.

"Bonnie," Caroline sighed, "I'm going to get out of the car—"

"What?!"

"—And you're going to get the hell away from here."

"No way, we are not leaving you!"

"Bonnie, you've got your ghost boyfriend drama. Elena has hers. And, right now, the mother of mine is about to be ghost bait." Bonnie still looked hesitant but Caroline was persistent, "So you and Marina need to go and send them all back to the other side. Okay?"

"I'm coming with you." No one was expecting Kaya to join in on Caroline's hero moment. Least of all Marina.

"Now, wait a sec—"

"I'm already dead, Mars, what are they gonna do to me?" Marina said nothing in response. "Now she's about to die and us ghosts need to go."

Marina looked into Kaya's eyes. Blue meeting black. Hidden beneath the layer of darkness, Marina could see a rainbow hiding. Bright and shimmering with a need to do save a life.

As she looked into her eyes, she remembered moments of their brief relationship. Of the first time they met when Marina killed a cyclops Kaya didn't spot. Of their first kiss after a particularly intense duel. Of the last time Marina saw Kaya before she didn't come back. Of the bright fire of her funeral pyre and the rainbow that shown over Long Island.

"Okay," she surrendered.

"Okay." Kaya smiled brightly. She leaned over to give Marina a quick kiss on the cheek before she rushed out of the car with Caroline. "Good luck."

The moment the two were out of the way, Bonnie pressed the gas and sped away. Marina, still in the backseat, turned around to look through the rear window nervously. She knew she shouldn't be. Kaya would be fine. She was right, there was literally nothing those ghosts could do to her.

As Bonnie sped through town, Marina climbed over the center console with little protest.

"I hate this," Marina said, after a moment.

"What?"

"I hate this," she repeated. "I left New York and I came here to get a break from all the drama. But now I've learned I've befriended the sister of some great evil and I've been dragged into the stupid supernatural drama of this fucking town. If I never enrolled in school, I could still be peacefully relaxing in my apartment."

"What kind of drama was there in New York?"

"I really don't want to get into it." Not that she could if she wanted to. How in the Gods' green earth could she even begin to explain everything that had happened since her mother died.

"You know," she spoke again as she eyed the trees rushing past them, "That's probably the last time I'm going to see her." Bonnie silently stared at the road ahead. "And I met my mom today. Well, not really met. I have some memories of her, but it's mostly just pictures. Just the two that I grabbed before I stayed at that nice lady's house before the funeral."

"That's how I am with my mom," Bonnie admitted. "She ditched us when I was around six or seven, I guess. My dad never talks about her and neither did my Grams before she died. Though, I don't really know if I'd be happy to see her again."

Bonnie managed a laugh but Marina could hear the pain enveloped inside it. Pain from both her mother's abandonment and the events of that day, namely the actions of one Jeremy Gilbert.

"I can say that about a good portion of my dad's family," Marina tried to lighten the mood and distract them both from the events of the day, "Bunch of drama queens they are. My Uncle... Kyle is the worst of the bunch. He thought my little brother and I were, like, conspiring against him and stole his fucking walking cane. He threatened to disown the entire family if he didn't get it back."

There was a quick bolt of lightning in the distance but Marina ignored it as she laughed.

"You can't be serious," Bonnie laughed. She knew immediately what Marina was doing but she appreciated it nonetheless.

"As a heart attack," Marina confirmed as Bonnie pulled up to a dilapidated house in the middle of the words. "Well that's not scary."

They got out of the car. Bonnie immediately began walking up the steps while Marina stayed at the passenger door. "I'm assuming this is the Witch House."

"Yeah," Bonnie nodded as she opened the door. She waited for Marina to finally walk away from the car. "In the eighteenth century, about one hundred witches were burned to death here."

"Festive," she said lightly as they stepped through the threshold. Immediately, she could feel the spirits of the witches inspecting her, deciding her worth.

Bonnie led her through the house and into the basement. After explaining her plan, and reciting the spell they were going to use to destroy the talisman they got to work. Marina raised her arms, muttering a quiet, " _Incendia._ " The white candles scattered around the room ignited at once.

After giving an impressed look, Bonnie did the same to the fireplace. They watched the roaring fire for a moment before footsteps sounded overhead.

"Bonnie!" Who Marina assumed was Jeremy shouted as he marched down the stairs. When he entered the room, he stopped.

Both Bonnie and Marina glared at him, neither speaking as he held out the talisman. Bonnie snatched it out of his hand, and immediately turned her back.

"You should go," Marina said before joining Bonnie by the roaring fire.

They didn't hear him leave. Marina could feel his eyes on them, particularly Bonnie, as she through the talisman in the fire. Bonnie grabbed onto Marina's hand and gripped it tightly to ground herself as they began chanting.

Marina could feel the heat against her skin, something so juxtaposed to the ocean that constantly churned inside her. She watched as the talisman sparked and began to melt in the burning flames.

She jumped slightly when she felt fingers encase her right hand. She looked over, never breaking her chanting, to see her mother stood beside her. On the other side, next to Bonnie, she saw an older woman chanting as well. The four of them together, watched as the talisman melted completely against the logs.

Almost immediately, Marina felt her mother's presence dissipate and she knew Kaya was gone as well.

She didn't even get to say goodbye. 


End file.
